First Growth Commences Carbon Projects In West Papua

First Growth Funds Limited group reports its joint venture with Greencollar Group (GCS), First Growth Forests (FGFJV), has commenced the world’s first program to develop forestry carbon projects for the whole of a province in West Papua.

“Developing projects at the landscape scale aligns project activities with market expectations for forestry credits and the UNFCCC’s emerging REDD+ principles. West Papua has nearly 8 M hectares of forest classified for logging, agriculture, and various urban expansion uses,” the company said in press release.

The program will develop and market forest carbon projects through a public private partnership with the Government, applying the market-leading Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). Projects are on-track to deliver carbon credits from Quarter 3 of this year.

16 pilot projects are initially under development, proposed for existing logging and agriculture concessions will be replaced with preservation activities funded through carbon finance. The forest pilots are all being developed under the VCS standards grouping provisions using either the joint venture’s owned IFM methodology or the REDD methodology. Due diligence has been concluded on the program confirming there are no material barriers to its successful roll-out this year through these pilots. Key project development activities, including extensive stakeholder consultation, are now well advanced.

Listed in Australia and formerly m2m Corporation Limited, First Growth Funds Ltd, is an investment company, focused on emerging technologies in high growth companies and markets. It has investments in Forestry Carbon Credit Projects in Asia, the Pacific Islands and Australia, and Digital Video. (Theindonesiatoday.com)